In teleconferencing, including videoconferencing, a table microphone is often used for sound pickup and transmission. Having microphones on a top surface of a table, such as a conference table, is a typical compromise, combining sound pickup coverage and quality with easy installation.
Particular problems occur when an acoustic obstruction is located between a sound source, e.g., a speaking conference participant, and a microphone arrangement. A practical problem in teleconference scenarios is that laptop computers, which are often located in front of the conference participants, constitute an acoustic obstruction which results in quality degradation of the sound picked up by the microphone arrangement.